Tonight, I wanted to talk about some of the things that a foster parent should think about teaching a child while caring for them. My parents have taught my foster siblings a lot, and I think that it has been really beneficial for the kids.

Think about what you usually teach young kids. ABCs, counting, nursery rhymes; writing and reading as they get a little bigger... little kids all learn the same general things as they're growing. But think about the things that they learn from you when you're not trying to teach some big lesson. Things that they pick up over time, like how to put on pants, or drink from a cup without a lid. As you do things on a daily basis, your children pick them up. And when a child is in foster care, they don't usually have the opportunity to learn those things.

My parents have always focused on teaching our foster children life skills. No matter their age, my parents have tried to work with them to help them learn the things that they would usually pick up over the course of their childhood. For example, a skill like brushing teeth, which you might not do yourself until you're four or five, my parents would teach kids when they were a little younger to make sure that they learned. If kids came to us as part of a sibling pair, my parents would make sure that the older sibling knew how to take care of both of them, whether it was making sure it was clear that any food had to be split between them, or learning how to help dress a younger sibling.

Things like learning to count or write can be taught at school. There are plenty of kids who aren't taught these things at home, and teachers make sure that these kids are brought up to speed. But life skills are something that aren't taught in the classroom. Getting dressed and learning how to make a sandwich need to be figured out at home. As a foster family, you never know what will happen to the children you take in after they leave your home, so it's your job to prepare them for whatever lies ahead. Make sure that they know how to bathe themselves, get dressed in the morning, and brush their teeth. Make sure they know that they need to eat every day, and brush their hair. There are so many things that kids learn over the course of their lifetime that just need to be taught explicitly to foster children before they leave the foster home. It's important to give them their best chance in life, even when you can't watch over them anymore.

My goal is to reach 150 likes on my Facebook author page by the time I'm celebrating a year of blogging on July 29th, and it would mean so much to me if everyone could like and share my page. It's as simple as clicking the two buttons at the top right of any blog page, so it only takes a few seconds of your time! As I've mentioned before, when I reach 150 likes, I will share information about the novel that I've been working on, so I'm really excited to hit that milestone!

I’d greatly appreciate it if you would share this blog with friends and family through your favorite social media sites. If you’re sharing on Twitter, don’t forget to tag me (@TayTayK02) and use the hashtag #TaylorTalks.

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About

My family has been doing foster care since I was three years old. I'm the only biological child in my family, though I now have five permanent siblings. Having nineteen siblings over the course of my lifetime has been an incredible experience, and I'm hoping that by sharing some of the ups and downs of being the only bio kid in a foster family, other foster families or people looking into doing foster care will be able to learn a bit of what life can be like. I also like to share what life is like on my journey to becoming a published author, as well as where my schooling and career choice are taking me.